24 Against All Odds: How One Micro Preemie Survivor Found Her God-Given Purpose

• Are you sitting in the NICU wondering if your micro preemie will not just survive, but actually thrive and live independently?
• Do you have an older child with special needs struggling to find their purpose?
• Have medical professionals told you to "prepare for the worst" and you're searching for hope that God's plans are bigger?

Episode Overview: Meet Bethany Bacon who defied every medical prediction when she was born at just 24.5 weeks in 1983 after her mother endured 14 miscarriages. Today, Bethany is a thriving, independent adult who runs her own purpose coaching business. Her story is a powerful reminder that God makes no mistakes and every life has divine purpose.

Key Takeaways:

• "God chooses and He doesn't make mistakes. He makes no mistakes at all whatsoever."
• Every person is created with a divine purpose, regardless of their birth story
• Don't give up, no matter how hard it gets
• Medical predictions don't determine God's plans for your child's life

Connect with Bethany Bacon:

• Website: Created-In-His-Image.com
• 12-week coaching program and condensed course available

Get the FREE PEACE Decision Making Guide when you sign up for our newsletter! Never miss an episode and be supported through a devotional and prayer that follow along with the weeks theme!

www.speakinglife.co/peace

While you're here, please leave a quick rating or review! I pray this episode blesses you! Remember, you don't just have to survive mama- you can thrive!

Connect with the host: Elyse Scheeler

• Subscribe: Speaking Life Into Motherhood
• Website: www.speakinglife.co/motherhood
• Email: hello@speakinglife.co
• Facebook Group: Speaking Life Into Motherhood
• Email Newsletter: https://speakinglife.co/subscribe/
• Essential Oils: my.doterra.com/speakinglife

Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of the guests and hosts and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Speaking Life Into Motherhood. None of the advice or discussion on the podcast is medical advice. Always consult with your medical provider before using any supplements, essential oils, or therapy methods.

Transcript

Elyse Scheeler (01:09)
Welcome back everyone. Today I have Bethany Bacon with us. Bethany has a truly inspiring life story. She was born as a preemie at 24 and a half weeks in November of 1983. In 2019, God placed upon her heart the idea to create a website for individuals who are struggling with their purpose. Since then, she's felt called to support her fellow Christians in living more abundant lives. Through perseverance and prayer, she has grown to thrive in her relationship with Christ

and as a healthy adult despite a very challenging start to her life. Welcome, Bethany. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Bethany Bacon (01:46)
Thank you, glad to be here.

Elyse Scheeler (01:48)
So tell me a little bit about, I mean, obviously you were born as a micro-premie, and I know we had talked before that, you know, that has impacted your voice because you were on a ventilator. So just tell me a little bit more about that. Like, I can't even imagine in 1983, you know, now we have, there's so much technology and, the fact that you, that God was there with you to survive and thrive is amazing. So just tell me a little bit about that, the story of you kind of coming into the world a little earlier than expected.

Bethany Bacon (02:15)
Yes, my mom had had struggles in getting pregnant.

Keeping pregnancies. She had 14 miscarriages. so I was in the middle of all that.

and even weeks before I was born, she had an appointment with her doctor and her doctor even told her that.

If she could carry the full term, I would probably be nine pounds.

Elyse Scheeler (02:46)
Wow.

Bethany Bacon (02:47)
And so my parents weren't.

necessarily expecting to encounter this, but the Lord gave them the grace and the strength to endure this. I truly believe it was God who

orchestrated everything, when he wanted me to be born.

People often say,

All I want is a healthy baby.

My parents did too.

And God chooses and He doesn't make mistakes. He makes no mistakes at all whatsoever. It's Satan who is the thief, who steals, kills and destroys. And that's also one of my...

passions is to just remind people that.

God, all this negativity, God does not, he doesn't want that. It's Satan who...

gets into lives and messes with people's minds. And so...

Elyse Scheeler (03:46)
Yeah, and I think that that's

really hard, to not let that happen, especially when you're dealing with a challenging situation like that. Do you remember, so I'm a speech therapist, do you remember or know, like has your family talked about, like did you receive a lot of medical intervention and therapies at the time or did that continue on like into your childhood and beyond after being born as a micropremi?

Bethany Bacon (04:11)
At six weeks old, I underwent surgery for hydrocephalus. So put a shunt in, straight line shunt, no valve. And then at three years old, my parents were told that I no longer needed the shunt. But according to them,

It was too risky to remove it. So they kept it in. And then in fast forward to 2016, I went all those years without any hydrocephalus issue. And then 2016, I started getting

unusual headaches and that's when they discovered that the hydrocephalus had flared up again

since then I've had...

15 more shunt-related surgeries. I now have two shunts and...

My head is trying to manage it. But it, yeah, so.

Elyse Scheeler (05:20)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

So were you, was there any question, well I'm sure that there was at some point or other, like about you being able to live independently, you know, how, I think that that's something that, you know, parents struggle with too, but you know, now you're living independently, you have your own business, can you tell us a little bit more about that? I think that that's a really, a good like reminder for those who are maybe in the trenches right now of like, yes, it's possible even despite, you know, what seemed like the most

trying circumstances that your child will... because that's the next thing, right? We want a healthy baby and then we want to know that, again, if possible, that our child will be able to have some independence when they're older and that I think it's just amazing that what you've done with all of those challenges. So tell us a little bit more about that or maybe your journey to getting to that independence. Was it hard or was that something that you were able to do more like in a traditional route of going to school and then moving out that

Bethany Bacon (05:56)
Yes.

Elyse Scheeler (06:22)
of a thing.

Bethany Bacon (06:23)
Yes, I graduated high school in May 2003, then went to a college in Oetana, Minnesota But I went to college for secretarial studies, graduated from there and

May 2005.

Personally, I'm not able to work full time outside the house. But, you know, each person is different. I did part-time jobs. One of them was as a CNA. So I did get my

Elyse Scheeler (07:00)
Those are tough jobs.

Bethany Bacon (07:02)
Yes,

yes, I did get my certification for that and yet because of my hydrocephalus challenges, I unfortunately had to voluntarily resign from that. But I was taught that

In the future, my health would allow me to, I could come back and work as a CNA again.

worked for the Christian school that I graduated from high school. I worked for them in various capacities. May 2024, I was let go from a classroom aid position because of their financial difficulty.

I would have loved to stay there, but looking back even now, I believe that that was God's way of transitioning me into what I'm doing now.

Elyse Scheeler (08:06)
Yeah,

so tell me a little bit more about that. So you've got your website, which I'm sorry, I can't remember. was the website that you have?

Bethany Bacon (08:14)
treatedinhisimage.com.

Elyse Scheeler (08:18)
Fabulous, so you have your website and and I know that you've got some other programs with that So tell me a little bit more about that because I think that that is something that's really inspiring too. And maybe there are Some parents who maybe you know on the other end of it have older children who are Seeking their purpose and are feeling for one reason or another whether or not they have Medical challenges or other disabilities that they are somehow limited in their purpose. How would you maybe speak to either?

that young person or that parent with kind of the purpose and the ideas that you're having right now.

Bethany Bacon (08:54)
I strongly believe everyone is created for a purpose, their birth experience, no matter what anyone here on earth thinks or predicts or

says everyone has a God-given purpose for being here. No one's here by, as a mistake. No one's here by chance. I truly believe that God is

saying to everyone, I love you. I created you with a purpose. No matter what negativity Satan tries to...

infiltrate your mind with.

I created you, I love you, I want to spend eternity with you. I don't want you spending eternity apart from me.

Elyse Scheeler (09:48)
What kinds of things do do like within?

like your coaching program, is it something where there's a course or somebody works directly with you Like let's say I would like to take your course and I'm trying to figure out, which I think we all are, right? We're all trying to figure out our purpose. What would that look like? Like if I was a client and I came in and said, okay, here I am, do I purchase a course? Do I read a book? What does that look like?

Bethany Bacon (10:13)
Yes. So my coaching program is a 12-week...

offering weekly sessions with me just to understand who God is on a deeper level than just, He's the creator of the universe or He created me or anything else you may have heard.

about God, but just going through some of his attributes. I chose 11 attributes of him to take people through as a bonus to my coaching program. People receive.

a detailed list of his other attributes with the

realization that, okay, all these attributes make up who God is. And none of those attributes have any negativity associated with them. God is for life. He's for purpose.

And so that's my coaching program. My course is a condensed version of that without the coaching aspect, without the weekly sessions with me. And so my primary purpose for that is so that people

have a choice. They don't have to live in negativity. They can live abundant lives.

which shows others that, okay, there's something better

Elyse Scheeler (11:52)
Yeah,

do you, this is just like a random thought, but again, I'm just thinking about some of the clients and our students that I have had that are now adults. some of them I have followed and talked to. I just, think that what you are providing, especially with

the perspective that you have just would really resonate with adults that, again, not that any adult wouldn't benefit from it, but that I think that even for parents, when I have somebody who comes on who's a parenting coach, I have gotten feedback where it's like, that parent doesn't understand.

how could you possibly understand? Because your child isn't a micro-apremia. Your child doesn't have autism. And I think that that resonates as well with adults, where it's like, you're going to tell me about my purpose, but you don't understand X, Y, Z that I've been through. Bethany can be like, well, actually, I do. I don't understand your exact experience, but I know how hard it can be. And here are some of the experiences that I have had to

I think that that really can resonate with especially again in my mind not young necessarily doesn't have to young adults But any adult right that maybe has had and is overcoming Those types of things I love that We're gonna we'll start getting wrapped up. I have one more question for you. What would be one thing? Well, how about this? We're gonna do we'll do two one thing that you would tell The mom and dad that are you know in the NICU right now with that micro preemie

praying and just hoping that this baby, you know, lives at this point, what would you say to them? And then also on that second side of it, you know, what would you say to that maybe young adult who is feeling some struggle and sense of their purpose? So first the parents, sorry, multi-point question. I'm the worst at that. What would you say to the parents?

Bethany Bacon (13:49)
no matter how hard it gets. Don't give up. And if I may say...

for anyone needing encouragement, search me out. I am more than happy to keep encouraging you to not give up. That's one reason I'm here is because I had, and I have,

parents and a whole host of friends who have just not given up. And despite what doctors or nurses say or think, well, we see this on the horizon.

Don't let that discourage you. Please don't.

and for the once who

are now at the age where they...

They're trying to figure out, There's so much influence and so many people are saying different things and it's like, you're overwhelmed and just almost despair.

I would say don't give up. Don't gravitate toward negativity because negativity is for whatever reason.

so seemingly powerful and yet it's not really powerful at all, honestly. So please don't get wrapped up in negativity. Don't lose all hope.

There is hope.

There is a way. There is truth. And all that negativity won't serve you at all.

Elyse Scheeler (15:35)
Yeah, and looking to Jesus too, right? If you don't have a relationship with Jesus, there's somebody over there who's wanting to take your hand and help lift you up. you are just such an amazing example of that. And then of someone who obviously has been willing to take his hand and really just use that for the greater good. Bethany, thank you so much for this conversation. I'm just so inspired by your story and all that you're doing to use these challenges that you face.

Bethany Bacon (15:38)
Yeah.

Elyse Scheeler (16:04)
to help others.

Bethany, can you just remind our listeners where they can find you? What was your website again?

Bethany Bacon (16:10)
created in his image.com with dashes in between the words. So, yeah. Thank you.

Elyse Scheeler (16:20)
I'll make sure that I post it in the the notes as well.

yeah, absolutely. I know. And I'm a dot co my website's dot co there's no ⁓ so everybody gets confused with that too. So we always make sure we write things down. So well, wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your time.

Bethany Bacon (16:35)
Thank you. Pleasure to be here.